Khalid is a member of the LGBTQ+ community, and he’s not ashamed.
In a series of posts on X on Friday, Nov. 22, the 26-year-old singer confirmed his sexuality after he said he was outed.
He kicked off the admission with a post on X featuring a rainbow emoji followed by three exclamation points, and he added, “there yall go. next topic please lol.”
When a user asked for clarification if he was, in fact, gay, the “Young, Dumb, & Broke” singer responded, “I am! And that’s okay.”
In another post, he elaborated by writing, “I got [outed] and the world still continues to turn. Let’s get this straight (lmao) I am not ashamed of my sexuality! In reality it ain’t [nobody’s] business! But I am okay with me love yall.”
The “Location” singer may have, in fact, been outed over the weekend by an alleged former flame, Dominican-American singer and rapper Hugo Almonte. In a series of now-deleted posts on X, Almonte aired supposed grievances he had with an unidentified ex. He claimed the ex was a big R&B singer and alleged that said singer accused him of breaking into his house because Almonte ended things between the two. At one point, he even shared a picture with Khalid, further implying who he may have been discussing.
Even though Khalid did not name the person who outed him in his own posts, many online were quick to draw conclusions. Almonte also seemingly confirmed it was him while speaking about the social media drama to Vulture.
“[It’s] really funny how it works because my intentions [were] never to out someone who’s clearly been out already in the community in Los Angeles,” he told the outlet.
Almonte added that his intentions were to share his story and share “how he tried to use his power to silence me because I simply ended our relationship, he was afraid of what I might say.”
In the aftermath, he shared that others have begun to “belittle” him and even send him death threats.
“All I’ve learned from this is never allow anyone to silence me, it’s crazy that these people said I was chasing clout, when I was holding onto this for five years, and I finally had enough,” he said, according to Vulture.
In a now-deleted Notes-app statement, Almonte further defended himself and said, per Vulture, “So if I had a chance to do it all over, I would do it again and again and again the same way.”
Khalid first broke onto the scene in 2016 at the age of 17 with a moody R&B-pop sound. With hits like “Better,” “OTW,” “Love Lies” and more, he has gone on to receive six Grammy nominations, six Billboard Awards, three American Music Awards, and an MTV Video Music Award.
